Note: English isn't my native language. Feel free to point out any mistake.

Slardar, the Slithereen Guard

"The surface world will be mine, and I'll start with the swimming pools."

Updated for 6.61x

The mighty king of the Naga race, Slardar was awoken from the depths of the sea after the invasion of the Burning Legion. Finding the world consumed by chaos, he found it a perfect opportunity to strike down the hated Night Elves. Allying with the scourge, Slardar uses his immense strength and power to stun and crush his enemies, and his mighty trident can cleave the strongest armor with ease.

This guide is old, and went through a lot. I created it in 2007. While everyone else played Slardar with the Crush/Stats build, I went for the Crush/Sprint build, and explained my choice well enough to get a lot of positive comments. Soon after, Slardar got buffed and more and more people started to use Sprint.

I updated it in the next summer, in 2008, to take part to the 12TH HGC. It ended up being third, but later on it has been the only guide of this contest to reach the premium land, where it belong since then.

However it died some weeks ago, firstly because it ended up being outdated, and secondly because all the pictures are gone. So I update it, once again. I'm working, for the most, on the item build.

Melee heroes have to be close to their target to land physical attacks. It mean that they have to run between each hit, which drastically reduces their damage output and, hence, their effectiveness during a very large part of the game.

There are 3 solutions to that problem:1. Good allies. A line-up that can spam a lot of nukes and slows solves the issue.2. Good spells. Some heroes can rely upon their spells, either to be played as casters (ex.: Shaker) or to catch the enemy (ex.: Bloodseeker).3. Good mobility. Whatever helps to move faster, helps to catch the enemy.

Slardar is an all-rounded hero that can be played in many ways. He's a crazy chaser because he got a spell to increase his mobility (Sprint), two others to slow down the enemy (Bash and Slithereen Crush), and the last one is an anti-juke (Amplify Damage). He's also a strong carry because he can tank, initiate, deal and kill (thanks to his ability to chase), and because bash can easily end up being a sick passive in late game. But on the other hand, he can also be played as a low-cost engager, because of his powerful stun and of his ultimate (which can be used as a kind of reversed Empower-like buff).

1. Stats

Range: 100

Move Speed: 300

Primary: STR

Str: 21 + 2.8

Agi: 17 + 1.9

Int: 15 + 1.5

Damage: 51 - 59

HP: 549

Mana: 195

Attack Speed: 1.41 (+17% IAS)

Armor: 1.4

Slardar is a rock-solid hero, though he's not the best in early game because of his low damages spells.

We need to understand how armor works to understand why Amplify Damage is such a powerful spell. The damage reduction that come from positive armor increase linearly; concretely it imply that we can have in between 1% and 99% of damage reduction. Negative armor's damage amplification is calculated with another formula, which form a logarithmic (the opposite of exponential) curve (i.e. a decreasing curve), as you can see on the following chart:

As a consequence, it isn't interesting to reduce too much enemy's armor, because as you goes on negative values the percentage of damage gained for each point of negative armor start to reduce. For example, you won't deal 99% more damages against a hero with -9999 armor. It might be easier to read it as a table:

On the following, and amazing table (by Malle), you can see how much damage you gain for any armor reduction:

To summarize it, let's highlight some values:
- A malus of -5 increase Slardar's damage output by approximately 30% (decrease as you get away from 3 armor).
- A malus of -10 increase Slardar's damage output by approximately 60% (decrease as you get away from 7 armor).
- A malus of -15 increase Slardar's damage output by approximately 100% (decrease as you get away from 11 armor).
- A malus of -20 increase Slardar's damage output by approximately 140% (decrease as you get away from 14 armor).

Needless to say, Amplify Damage is an absolutely amazing spell. Remember that it's not only +100% damage for you, but for all your team! The total damage inflicted can be by far superior to what can do Sven with God's Strength for example. Beside that point we can see that Cuirass is obviously an awesome item for Slardar.

Useful links:
- Armor and EHP guide (by SxDoTS): for all mathematics formula about armor.
- The Stygian Desolator Explained (by Blaow): really interesting as it show concretely how reducing armor is effective.
- Any mistake?: Malle and DonTomato patiently answering my questions (thank you again guys!). You can find on this topic all the formulas you need to create a table.

Slithereen Crush is maxed as soon as possible for obvious reasons. Sprint is maxed along with it because having a lot of MS allow to hit much more often a moving target, which give more chances to bash. Doing the opposite and taking Bash in first isn't effective because it deprive Slardar from having a relatively good escape mechanism without making him able to bash effectively.

If your lane mate is lacking a reliable slow or stun or if you are on a really defensive stance you may eventually end up maxing Sprint before Slithereen Crush, as having more MS can be sometimes interesting in those circumstances. It is all about in-game judgment though.

It is kind of usual to level up Bash once at level 2. It is because Warcraft III is all but a random game. The bash percentage is very low on the first attack, but increase with each hit. As a consequence, one that doesn't bash 4 times in a row got more than 50% chances to bash on the next attack.
Theoretically, this mechanism fact makes it possible to engage every single fight with a bash in early game. However, in my opinion, Sprint is much more effective in early game, and shouldn't be delayed in favor of such unreliable trick.

Note: my numbers are random. If you want to know everything about the "pseudo random distribution", check this article.

2. Item build

Although Slardar is a rock solid hero, which has no major flaw that should be solved through a rigorous item build, there are some things about the current metagame that must be understood.

1. There is no way to deal any damage while disabled.2. Since Black King Bar got nerfed and Bane and Rhasta buffed, there is always at least one powerful disabler in each team.

It is so powerful to disable the enemy that in despite of Khadgar's Pipe of Insight, Quelling Blade and in despite of various buffs, there is almost no way to carry without a hero that is able, in some way, to beat the problem. Some example of popular 6.60 carry:
- Morphling. He's able to blink, to teleport and to increase his HP pool in the same time. This way he's able to handle disables.
- Mirana. She has a nice survivability and is able to enter and evade the battle quickly.
- Dryad. She's able to deal a loadshit of damages in no time and to tank in the same time.
- Necrolyte. He's able to tank the whole enemy team if he's farmed enough. This way, he deal with the problem.
To sum up, you don't see any hero that rely on physical attacks without being, in the same time, able to handle enemy's disables in some way. You still see some heroes like Kunkka or Nevermore because they can outfarm the enemy, which is a way to deal with the problem.

Slardar is not going to be played as a carry unless his team is heavily dominating, because in most cases he's just not going to be able to catch the enemy. That is why in most competitives games, he's played with Black King Bar as core item, and then with either Dagger (to engage) or / and Heart (because Black King Bar is not enough to tank since its nerf). However in most cases (even in privates games) Slardar is a fantastic carry because he can deal a loadshit of damages even if the enemy is moving (which usually dramatically decrease anyone's damage output) without relying on any expensive item.

Core items

As a chaser, Slardar has to tank a lot of damages, from towers and creeps as well as from heroes, so unless you're completely dominating already (i.e. when the game is going to be a stomp anyway), it is good to get up to 3 bracers (but not more). Note that it is important to get boots as soon as possible as Slardar, although he can be strong in early game, can't catch his enemy with Sprint level 1 or 2.

In the beginning, get whatever you want. It's better to begin with a few gauntlets and some regeneration, though. Get a Magic Stick if you know that it is an appropriate choice, depending on your own play style and on your enemies. It can be interesting to purchase Quelling Blade, too.

Once you've reached tier 2, either complete it or move to the next tier and never come back.

Tier 1 items

The faster you move, the more you hit. You must choose between Phase and Treads. Both are interesting.

Phase Boots.Cheap and effective, can help to slither through waves and heroes, which can be powerful if there are a lot of team fights in lanes and narrow paths.

Power Treads.Good old raw power is never bad. Slardar doesn't need more than it and a few bracers to take down farmed heroes, thanks to his skill set.

Tier 2 items

Armlet of Mordiggian.Nothing strengthens Slardar as fast as Armlet. With it, his core and Power Treads, Slardar is a monster already as it is +69% IAS, +93 DMG and +1007 HP while Unholy Strength is activated. There is no ideal build order, though we can notice 3 interesting orders:
- Against harassers an early Help of Iron Will is interesting.
- Against nukers it is better to get more HP as soon as possible.
- Against weaklings it is better to farm Power Treads or Phase Boots as soon as possible, in order to catch and kill.

Black King Bar.Against well coordinated nukes and disables, Black King Bar is mandatory. As it is all about the enemy you're playing against and in-game judgment, I haven't much to say.

Tier 3 items

Get whatever is the best in the game you're playing. There are basically two good builds: 1. The lifesteal build. Get Helm of the Dominator after Armlet, and then get either Hyperstone or Satanic, and complete the build with Buriza and/or Cuirass. It is a good build, because with that lifesteal you'll not have to come back to base after most team fights because of Armlet's degeneration, which quickly turns into more gold and experience.2. The negative armor build. It is interesting to get either Desolator or Cuirass, because if the enemy has (approximately) 14 armor (which often happens since Phase Boots were introduced), then Desolator's Corruption orb is going to increase Slardar's damage output by 40% (total: 140% with Amplify Damage level 3). With this build you're going to have a sick amount of damages in no time.
Anyway remember that there is no way to choose any of those builds unless you've got some "free room" in the game you're playing. In a tough game, just get whatever is needed as soon as possible. Get damages if you're not being focused or engaged all the time, and Heart in the opposite case. This being done, repeat the process, until the game isn't tough anymore.

Satanic.Unholy Rage is an amazing spell that can regenerate more than a thousand HP while activated. Think about it, when you're wondering which item is the best when it comes to tanking.
The best, with Satanic, is that its buildup is great, as Helm of the Dominator can be an amazing item after Armlet, as with its lifesteal Slardar won't have to get back to base after each team fight because of Unholy Strength's degeneration.

Buriza Do-Kyanon.Raw power for the win. Critical strikes fit Amplify Damage and lifesteal like nothing else.

Heart of Tarrasque.If the game is close enough for the enemy to spam his disables in despite of Black King Bar, there isn't much to do but to get more HP (Heart) or to initiate (Dagger). It's up to you.

Desolator.Since Satanic got buffed, I think that it is almost always better to get lifesteal along with Buriza. However, Desolator is still interesting when the enemy got a lot of armor (more than 20).

Assault Cuirass.It is of course amazing item for Slardar, especially because an early Hyperstone (let's say, after Armlet and Helm or Desolator) quickly turns him into a fucking bane for lone and frail heroes (i.e. for any hero that can't either disable or blink, as anyway if he's so farmed he's amazingly hard to duel against).

3. Items to consider

Hood of Defiance.Against a lot of nukers, there is not much to do but to purchase Hood.

Boots of Travel.Although Slardar can slither throughout the map quickly, sometimes the teleport is just needed, especially when the game turn into a push-fest.

Kelen's Dagger.Any hero with an area of effect stun can make a great use of it. Slardar is no exception, though it is possible to skip it, thanks to Sprint.

Monkey King Bar.Don't get it for anything but True Strike. Its Mini-Bash isn't interesting, because it deals magical damage on melee heroes, which is not increased by Amplify Damage.

4. Items to avoid

Bottle.Slardar isn't the best early ganker around and has too many HP afterwards to use a bottle effectively.

Radiance.Slardar isn't a good farmer and is much stronger and efficient with cheaper items that also help him to tank.

Vanguard.Vanguard is much less interesting than Armlet in early and mid game and doesn't cover Slardar's need of HP afterwards.

Cranium Basher.Get Hyperstone if you want to bash more often, not Basher.

Mask of Madness.Sprint gives much more MS, which can't be neglected. Just get more IAS (Hyperstone for example) if you're sad enough to consider Mask of Madness.

Sange & Yasha.Get Armlet and Helm of the Dominator instead. It is easier to purchase, and get more HP, IAS and damages in the end, along with an equally useful orb. The extra MS isn't interesting, as anyway Slardar has more than 500 MS with Sprint.

IV. Strategy

Slardar's early game is not the best. He's a melee hero with no nuke nor easy to land stun. So, we're going to talk about early game for the most.

I will indicate in what part of the game each strategy is mostly used, rather than dividing rigorously those in three parts called Early, Mid and Late game.

If you're the weakest hero of your team in early game (which should be, unless you screwed picks), get the easy lane, i.e. the top lane if you're Scourge and the bottom lane if you're Sentinel. This is because the meeting point of the first wave is naturally near your ally tower in those lanes, so it's easier to keep it here. If there you face some nasty early nukers, do not hesitate to go somewhere else.

Creep blocking (Early to Mid game)

Blaow and MaJu explain how to block creeps to fight nearer the ally tower. But they don't explain two things.

Firstly, it can be bad to block too much when you're in top lane (Scourge side) or in bottom lane (Sentinel side), because the meeting point is naturally near the tower. Hence, if you block too much, the tower will attack the first wave, and your creeps with counter-push far in the lane, which leave you vulnerable. To solve that problem, pull the second wave.

Secondly, creep blocking doesn't have to be used only on the first wave. If you are owned in your lane, it can be interesting to get back to your next incoming wave and to block it, in order to pull back the meeting point where you want it to be.

Protect the Tower (Early to Mid game)

Of course, it is important to protect the tower. Two strategies:
- Attack the enemy creeps when they start to attack the tower.
- Click on enemy heroes when you are near their creeps.
Both methods will force the enemy creeps to follow you (known as drawing agro). So they will stop to attack your tower.

2. Slitherers

Slardar's role and how to pick him

As you may have guessed, Slardar is a hybrid hero. He's a semi-tanker because his innate ability to tank (as a strength hero) is decreased by Sprint, a back-carry because his skill set make him dangerous with the right stuff, and of course a chaser.

When should he be picked? As a rock solid hybrid hero he can be picked along with a lot of lines-up. However he's kind of weak in early game, so it is all about not breaking the balance. For example, it would be unwise to pick Slardar while your team has one extremely weak hero in early game already, if the enemy has a gank-oriented line-up. Do not create this kind of major flaw with your pick, and everything will be fine.

Besides that, of course it can be interesting to pick Slardar as a counter to a couple of invisible heroes.

Sprint (Early to Late Game)

Sprint must be used wisely. Since it makes Slardar frail, it must be used as late as possible during a fight, but I won't make any comment here because it's all about experience.

The most important thing is, maybe, to never ever chase when the spell's duration is about to end. It's never good to be too far in the enemy territory alone with a poor MS. So, there is a little tip to solve that issue: the spell last 25 seconds and the cooldown 45 seconds. So, the shadow will cover approximately the half of the icon when the spell is about to end. Like this:
Keep an eye on it when you chase!

Intimidate (Early to Mid game)

This tip is pretty fun, but must be used moderately. Amplify Damage costs only 25 mana and has a really short cooldown, and is usually casted as a prelude of a gank or so. If you cast it on the opponent, he will probably be scared and will back until it's finished: 30 seconds of peaceful farming for you! Of course, if you abuse it, he will get the idea and not be scared anymore. But again, this can be good for you if he doesn't back when you really want to gank him. Against a skilled enemy you must be sure that (at least) one of your allies is missing from the enemy's minimap, because otherwise they are not going to be scared at all.

Did you say mind game?

Neutral creeping (Mid to Late game)

Remember that the mana cost of Amplify Damage is cheap enough to use it on neutrals. It can be used to quickly kill centaurs, furbolgs, etc.

Combat management (Mid to Late game)

You will get more and more items as the game goes on. More IAS means more Bash, which means less attack from the enemy. As a consequence it can be sometimes very interesting to focus, during teamfights, the enemy's carry to prevent him from damaging your team.

And remember: every single moment of peace is a gift of your team and must be treated as such with respect. It is a crime to miss any easy last hit. Don't be an outlaw.

3. The art of chasing

The following advices are extremely common but are also, in most cases, ignored. However they are extremely important and effective for Slardar. He needs, in order to chase effectively, to control a lot of things in the same time. As a consequence the art of chasing is completely under the sign of the control.

Control enemy's cooldown and mana (Early to Late game)

It's important to know enemy's spell status (cooldown/mana pool) before engaging in a potentially dangerous situation. You must not chase, for example, a red HP Sven which has his Bolt almost ready when you are mid HP. A good chaser must know every single hero and must be able to evaluate the state of their mana pool and of their cooldowns before and especially during each fight.

Control Slardar's positioning and attack animation (Early to Mid game)

Physical attacks are like a spell: they have a cooldown, and it's length is relative to the IAS. An enemy that is stunned by Slithereen Crush while fleeing is going in a precise direction. It is important go ahead in this direction while the physical attack is on cooldown, in order to be ahead rather than behind him when the stun's effect end up. Slardar's extremely good attack animation allows him to attack quickly each time the physical attack is ready during the ride.

Control the minimap and the fog of war (Early to Late game)

It is extremely important to check the minimap as often as possible while chasing. If too many enemies disappeared in the fog of war near the location your target is bringing you to, stopping the chase is the best thing to do. You must be able to evaluate how much time each hero needs to reach (and help) your target.

Control Slardar's trajectory (Early to Late game)

Don't get blocked by any creep. Never, ever. It is an offence to Sprint's greatness and a waste of time. And do not hesitate to abuse your superior MS to block the enemy, like you do for creeps in early game.

4. Teamplay

Slardar isn't the weakest hero in early game. He has good base stats, a nice strength gain and an amazing AoE stun which, in despite of not doing a lot of damage, lasts long. However he's unable to engage in most cases, so his ally must compensate this weakness as well as being able to be aggressive, in order to capitalize Slithereen Crush's power. Being laned with an extremely passive babysitter like Warlock is good for Slardar, but not perfect.

Best allies

Lane controllers

Try to lane up with a hero that have a good lane control and that is eventually able to be agressive. As I already said, being laned with a passive babysitter is interesting but not perfect.

High physicals damages heroes

Amplify Damage increases physical damages, so later in the game it's a good idea to be with those heroes who benefit from it.

Support heroes

Who doesn't like to play with those guys? A well-timed Repel can be deadly for your opponent, for example.

Physicals spells

It's good to know which spell deal physicals damages to adapt a line-up to Amplify Damage.

A good way to adapt items to Amplify Damage is to get physical damage over magical damage. This basically saying: get everything you want except Mjolnir/Maelstorm and melee Monkey King Bar, as there are no others DPS items which deal an important amount of magical damage. Radiance (the only other DPS item which deal magic damages) hasn't the same utility so I don't take it into consideration here.

Worst enemies

Disablers

Exactly as everybody likes to play with a good support hero, nobody likes to play against a good disabler. This is especially true for Slardar, because being disabled for 5 seconds with Sprint activated is a serious pain.

Lane controllers

They rape you even more than they allow you to farm when you are laned with them. Try to avoid them as much as possible in early game.

"My main confusion with your guide is what role you are taking, carry or tank? If your going tank then there is no reason for you getting sprint early.....if you are the carry then you shouldnt be runnning around the map and ganking, unless your backup carry." (Suizida)

Slardar is a hybrid hero. Played as a tank, he isn't good, because his spells aren't good, so he rely on physicals damage and for that he need Sprint. As we know, Sprint prevents him from tanking too much. Of course, he can sometimes, simply because I give him an extremely large HP pool, but this isn't his main job. His main job is to gank, because Sprint synergizes extremely well with Bash and Amplify Damage. He's a semi-tanker, excellent ganker and backup carry if he farm well. That's a lot, and yeah this can be confusing.

Anyway, I think that the tank concept is pretty outdated. If you don't deal enough damages, the enemy team will ignore you; to tank well, you need to attract them, and for that you need to be irritating. Without Sprint, Slardar is efficient only when the enemy don't move, and not as much as many other heroes. This is clearly not enough to be irritating. Tanking is more about a good balance between damages and HP.

"I usually go phase boots, is level 2-3 sprint enough? I have no chasing/escaping issues whatsoever, and I often fit in 1 to 3 stat points @ lvl 8/9/10, then finish off bash by 14-15. What do you have to say about this?" (Vindicate)

It is not your movespeed that is interesting, but the difference of movespeed between you and the enemy. The faster you run, the more you hit an enemy that is running. The more you hit, the more you bash, which makes it easier for you and your team to catch and kill the enemy. It also makes it easier to land Slithereen Crush, which is another way to catch and kill.

About the stats, I would advise against it, because with a lot of MS it is easy to hit a target that is moving, which makes Bash amazingly good (i.e. better than stats).

VII. Conclusion

The conclusion of the first version of this guide is something like 2 years old. But I like it:

For sure, this isn't the most common Slardar build. I'm pretty sure that many people will not even bother to read my arguments. They will reply to flame, and we'll have to debate.

I'd like to remind to those people some facts:
- People from this forum flamed S&Y for ages. MYM & IHCS players started to use it successfully on Void, TB, Bounty... Some minds are still closed.
- Those same people hated Mask of Madness hard. One excellent Void guide (by nekdolan) has been flamed for 1 year, and then many pros started to use the same build in the MYM Pride tourney. So who was right ? The guy who has been able to think by himself.
- Treads have been flamed for years. Many arrogant people accused every single "treads" guide to be noobsauce, and then pros started to use it.
- Battlefury on Mortred is still an omfg debate, but heh, check this replay.

What do I want to say? I want to say that authoritative arguments (X player do like this so it's the best way to play, pro don't do like this so this is bad, etc) are absolutely useless and are disproven by facts. Seriously, how many time does I have to read "This is garbage" - end of story. No argument, just self-confidence. Usually by people who doesn't even tested the build in-game.

As I explained, my build provide an extremely large HP pool to use Sprint in safety. This spell allows you to get in or out of the range of almost every single hero in the game in 1 or 2 seconds. This is awesome. Bash will never ever work if you cannot hit your target regularly. The IAS is a solution ONLY if your target doesn't move, or have an extremly inferior MS. This is a purely unrealistic situation for a major part of the game.

Oh, and I guess that I have to say more about me: I'm an IHL / HL1 / cw player. I'll bring you some replays as soon as possible (I'm writing this guide because I can't play at the moment), and my arguments aren't only theoreticals.

Well, have fun, and feel free to comment (or to flame ).

EcceLexAlso known as Dky and RosaCrvx

Credits to :
- Big thanks to grandeko_2000, Blaow, ICallBotSolo, DonTomato and Malle. They incredibly helped me for all the mechanics & mathcraft parts
- I would also thanks mal-f(x) because he has been nice enough to correct my english in the first version of this guide
- And finally, thanks to Justin Kong, firstly because without his PM I wouldn't have worked on the 2nd update and secondly because he corrected my english just like mal-f(x) did in the past ^_^